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In a message dated 10/01/2003 8:52:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > WASHINGTON -- From creating drug-hunting databases to including more Main > Street doctors in medical research, the > National Institutes of Health pledged a series of changes on Tuesday > intended to help turn scientific discoveries into > better health care, faster. > > Consider it "turbocharging the NIH," said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the agency's > new director. > > The NIH, with a $27 billion budget, is the government agency primarily > responsible for conducting and financing medical > research. It has spurred crucial science, such as deciphering the secrets of > human genetics. But critics have called > the giant agency, with its 27 separate institutes and centers, too unwieldy > to ensure that research findings quickly > benefit the patients who need them most. > > With the unprecedented pace and sophistication of new discoveries, "There's > no doubt medical research is at a critical > point in its history," Zerhouni said Tuesday. > > His new five-year, $2.1 billion "road map" for NIH lays out plans to ensure > the most promising of these complex > biological discoveries get the proper attention and to remove barriers that > slow transformation of those discoveries > into treatments. > > "This is truly not business as usual," Zerhouni said. > > Many of the new initiatives won't be noticed by the average person -- they > involve such things as getting scientists > from different, highly specialized fields to work together better. > > "I think the average person may not tomorrow see an effect," said Dr. Alan > I. Leshner, chief executive of the American > Association for the Advancement of Science. But the NIH plans are "laying > out an important vision for where biomedical > science can and will go, and how to ensure that that gets translated into > real-life improvements in the health of the > American people. In that case, it's very significant." > > And some of the top plans could make it easier to conduct studies of > patients. > > For example, most patient research currently is conducted by hospitals and > universities. NIH hopes to establish a group > of community-based physicians trained specially for research such as studies > of experimental therapies. They would be > part of a series of research networks that could be tapped to conduct > important studies rapidly, similar to networks > NIH already has set up for cancer and AIDS. > > More community doctors could open research to more patients -- only 1 > percent of people with Parkinson's disease and 3 > to 4 percent of cancer patients ever enroll in studies -- and to problems > that don't get enough attention, such as > pain, Zerhouni said. > > Patient involvement in research can be crucial to improving care, he said. > He noted that life expectancy for cystic > fibrosis improved from 10 years to 40 years thanks largely to patient groups > who helped develop 198 specialized care > centers and a nationwide data registry, allowing research to be done more > quickly. > > In addition, NIH wants to standardize regulatory requirements for patient > studies so that every researcher follows the > same rules -- they now differ hospital to hospital -- and to standardize > databases so that research findings can be > more easily shared. > > Critics have long warned there is too little oversight to ensure patient > protection in many studies. Asked if getting > more doctors involved could increase that risk, Zerhouni called the planned > new standards and training crucial. > > Among NIH's other plans: > > * Establishing molecular and chemical libraries open to any scientist, > potentially useful in hunting new drug > candidates. > > * Creating biomedical computing centers capable of handling the deluge of > new information about genes and proteins. > > * Helping small biomedical companies tap into the NIH's resources for more > industry collaboration. > > * Encouraging more creative research with special grants of $500,000 a year > for five years for scientists with ideas > too risky to win the NIH's conventional financing but that would mean > breakthroughs if the gambles paid off. > > Beginning the changes next year will cost $130 million that will come from > existing resources pooled by each of the > NIH's institutes, Zerhouni said. He would not detail where the money was > siphoned from, but insisted no programs were > cut. > > * __ > > On the Net: > > WOW, this is the best news I have heard since the Defense Dept got into the > act. > > paul > > * * * > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn